2-734-542 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Male Fertility Divinity, Possibly Shiva, c. 120-200. This figure—a somewhat pudgy, sturdy male wearing a transparent dhoti and a long, bulky scarf—is very much based on stone sculpture models of bodhisattva or attendant figures; the execution is, of course, cruder and simpler. A further difference, in this instance, is that we deal with a Hindu rather than a Buddhist sculpture. The image represents Shiva, as indicated by the ithyphallic form of the deity. The earliest form of Shiva worshipped in Mathura by the Pasupata sect was that of the urdhvareta, or ithyphallic Shiva. The image is missing its head, right arm, and feet. Probably made from a mold, but largely hand-modeled, it dates from roughly the third century AD. Stylistic features and iconographic considerations—the hair falling in strands over the shoulders and the presence of the water flask ( kamandalu ) that appears in other images speak in favor of a third-century date. The fact that we deal with a Hindu Shiva image, characteristic of a later period, further confirms this assumption.